You And Me And Mr Skullface Makes 3 (Kouhei+Maia, H Sp Hunt]

The monitors continued flickering on and off, only the one hanging around in the group staying constant. Each room seemed a bit more unnerving than the next. One was full of chains that seemed to be pointing straight upward, making creaking noises as they dangled back and forth on their rusted hinges. Whether the camera was upside down or the gravity was remained distressingly unclear. Another was a large furnace, hungrily crackling as various sorts of beaker lied around it. Occasionally a conveyer belt dropped one in, turning the flames a noxious green as they belched sulfur and brimstone. Next came the face of a man Isaac refused to call father, taking up the entirety of the camera and staring directly into the boy's tired eyes.

Wait, no. That was the gas talking. However, by now Isaac had decided to stop paying attention to the rooms, taking a half-step closer to Maia out of nerves. "Think this place is getting to me," he confided to her, voice somewhat shaky.

The only constant shot remained the footage of the group, which was starting to pick up when it came to movement. The shot seemed to pan around in circles, enough to make Elliot dizzy just from watching it go around and around. It seemed to be panning upwards as well, starting from the ankles and swiftly working its way higher. Beyond an occasional mark from a green laser pointer, however, there seemed to be no indication of where the unseen cameraman was. Then it reached the top of the ceiling, where it remained focusing intently at the tops of the group's heads. Elliot looked up to try and see if he could find the cameraman, but there was seemingly nothing. "Huh. Guess we're alone after all."

Judging by the sudden beep of alarm, they weren't. The camera footage began to shake, and then went into a freefall. It was incredibly unclear what had happened until a loud THUNK echoed through the room. Isaac was floored, KO'd by seemingly nothing. Then the nothing began to shimmer, and a small, spider-like Gizumon broke from its camouflage. It looked around, unsure of itself, and then began climbing up Isaac's fallen body to try and get a better view of the room. It turned to Maia, the closest available human, and waved one of it's legs in a clumsy attempt at greeting. "Gi-zu~!" it chimed, merrily.

Then the first few bashes began to sound, followed by an all-too-familiar moan. The monitors switched once more, this time helpfully showing Porcupamon wailing on the door with both of it's fists. They were making far too loud of a sound to be made of felt alone. The Gizumon let out a frenzied screech and began scuttling for the corner of the room, inserting the wires beneath its body into an outlet and revealing a small maintenance tunnel. It looked like a very tight squeeze for the group, but very spacious for the Gizumon. As it began to climb into the tunnel, however, it cast a concerned look at the group. Why weren't they following? Didn't they know the watchman was coming? "Gizu?" it asked, tilting its rounded body in confusion.

Elliot shot Maia a worried look. He looked instinctively, from the mentally shut-down Kouhei to the physically passed-out Isaac, and then paled. The realization was dawning that he was the only one left standing, and now Maia's number two by default. That was a lot of pressure to put on a 13 year old kid whose biggest decisions until then were "how do I make Isaac clean his room." "I-I don't know," he said, almost more to himself than to Maia. "What if it's a trap? But then again, I guess we're already in a trap. But this could be, like, a double trap. Triple trap? Oh jeez, I wish Isaac was okay enough to help." Occasionally he gave his brother a worried shake, but he remained totally KO'd. He muttered things in his unconsciousness, too low for Elliot to make them out properly but sounding strangely familiar. At one point, he found himself mouthing the word "Dad?", wondering just what Isaac could be talking about.

Meanwhile, the Gizumon's beeping was becoming more flustered and impatient. With how it started moving, it looked like it was going to shut the door behind him and cut off their route of escape. "Sorry! Sorry! Just a second!" Elliot sputtered, quickly running to Kouhei's side. The boy seemed completely alone, staring very intently past the group. Elliot couldn't tell what he was talking about either, and the lack of sense that anybody was making was really starting to frustrate him. "Kouhei, please," Elliot pleaded, afraid of even touching the boy in his current state. Never wake a sleepwalker, period. "It isn't safe here anymore. We gotta go. We need to." It didn't seem like the boy had heard him, but he suddenly snapped into action and bolted for the maintenance tunnel.

Had he heard Elliot's warning, or was he listening to somebody else right now?

"Gizu!" the Gizumon squeaked happily. Finally, somebody got it! The boy with the bad leg looked like he was about to follow too, but then he stopped short at the entrance of the tunnel. The Gizumon's brow furrowed, annoyed. What was always taking these humans so long? Didn't they see the contours of the door as it began to bend inward, the steel letting out tortured wails as it started to compress and expand? Didn't they know how dangerous the Watchman could be? And why were they letting someone unconscious in there? Those were at the most risk of being next in line. The Gizumon reared up on its hind legs, knocking Elliot away before shooting the wires from its underside like a grappling hook. They wrapped around Isaac's wrists, the spider scuttling at full speed to try and drag the unconscious boy away. Elliot turned to look at the Gizumon, worry in his eyes and mouth open as if trying to speak, but the Digimon cut him off with a firm "Gi! Giiii!" The camera was now focused on Isaac's body, being dragged ever closer to the Gizumon's eye, before the creature swiveled and returned the camera view to the inky blackness of the maintenance hatch.

Maybe Isaac was being saved. Maybe Isaac was simply out of the frying pan, and into the fire. Elliot didn't know what to do, looking between his brother and the steadily collapsing door. If the door fell down, they'd all be doomed. If Isaac was taken away, Elliot's heart would be broken. Still, he knew it wouldn't be fair to get them all killed just because of his hesitation. Moving on pure instinct alone he flung himself at the door, using all of his strength to try and push back against the Porcupamon. Even for a strong species like a Veemon, it was a huge struggle. "Maia! Do something, anything! Please!" he begged, unsure what he was even asking her to do. Stop the Gizumon? Follow the Gizumon? Join him in blocking the door? Maybe mess with the console? Elliot didn't know what. His mind was a haze of adrenaline right now, and he just wanted everyone to be okay.

Elliot turned, shocked, as he felt Maia standing by him to help brace the door. She wasn't a Digimon! She wasn't even a football player or bodybuilder! She could get seriously hurt, especially if the Porcupamon tore through the door claws-first. Judging by the sudden steely buzzsaw, puncturing dangerously close to Elliot's head, it was a more valid concern than he feared. "What are you doing?" he asked worriedly, voice weak and quiet compared to the increasingly loud groaning of the door. He didn't know how much holder he could hold out, even as he began counter-punching the door to try and undo its strain. Each strike turned his knuckles red and hot, but he kept trying regardless. He had to, right?

Then Maia told him to run. Was she trying to get herself hurt? Her help was keeping the door up, true, but Elliot seriously doubted she would be able to hold it on her own. His worries about her only magnified with that, and he found himself frantically shaking his head. "I'm not leaving you behind," he said, voice quivering in its attempt at being firm. "You should be the one running. This is a really dangerous Digimon, and you're just human. And Isaac would be really worried if he knew anything happened to you. I'll buy you time, promise." He was starting to feel weird and fatigued, too. Maybe it was fear, maybe it was just being drained, but he wasn't sure if he'd be able to hold onto Veemon form forever. "B-besides, once I run out of energy, I'll just end up slowing you guys down." He cast a baleful look at an injured leg that, in its current form, wasn't even there.

The door was splintering into shards of steel, a few falling atop the duo's heads, when suddenly Kyaro hit the big red button. Ominous red light bathed the room as a heavy steel door slammed down, the noise causing Elliot to jump back a few inches. The sounds of doors slamming shut echoed throughout the building, underlined by the frustrated moans of a now locked-out Porcupamon. Even Gizumon's maintenance tunnel began to slam shut, leaving Elliot, Maia, and Kuu completely isolated. It also left their unconscious and delusional friends locked alone in the dark with a tiny spider robot. Elliot wasn't sure if he wanted to feel relief or further panic at the change, but he looked up and smiled at Kuu regardless. He bailed them out of a messy situation, and he'd rather be anxious than about to be torn to bits.

As the Porcupamon's heavy footsteps trailed off, Elliot decided the door no longer needed such strong protection. He walked to the monitors, which flickered on and off rapidly as the backup power strained to show all of the facility's going-ons. This left every image practically incomprehensible, barring the one that had been drawing directly from Gizumon's eye. That one currently displayed the unconscious Isaac, a wire coiling up his arm and straining to wave it back and forth. If it was trying to make those inside feel relief, it frankly just made Elliot's stomach turn a little. The cheerful chirps of "Gi-zu~!" frankly weren't helping much. It was as if there was something innately wrong about its attempts to help.

He turned to Maia, trying his hardest to keep strong. He wasn't as good at it was Isaac was, that's for sure. "What do we do now?" he asked, feeling ever so small.

The Gizumon dutifully crawled through the maintenance tunnels, the sickly green light from his eyes and overwhelming green light from the Emergency Lockdown button battling for dominance. He knew these tunnels like the back of his nonexistent hand. After all, traveling them was his job! That meant he knew every exit, every vulnerability, and every twist and turn. Right now it was the vulnerabilities he was looking out for, as the regular exits would all be sealed until the security team intervened. Still dragging Isaac behind him and beeping like an alarm clock scorned whenever Kouhei traveled in the "wrong" direction, the Gizumon found himself directing his group to the best of his ability.

One path to be taken was a great hole in the middle of the tunnel, the green glowing puddle that Kouhei would recognize from earlier ominously lurking beneath it. The Gizumon seemed to agree with the group's general opinion, letting out a frenzied screech and crawling up the walls to avoid that hole. The next vulnerability was right through the side of one of the tunnels. The room was pitch black, but it seemed to hum and vibrate at almost unstable frequencies. Even Gizumon's green eye-light failed to penetrate too far into the room, which seemed to be suffering from a bad case of advanced darkness. A third hole was through the ceiling of a tunnel. Meticulously timed crashes and bashes formed strangely even patterns, which Gizumon hummed along with as if it formed a beautiful symphony. The final hole was the chain room. Turned out gravity wasn't disabled, but the camera there was upside down. It also turned out there were other things hanging there, snared in the chains like traps. The Gizumon seemed far more concerned by the faulty equipment than the lost souls within.

Maia and Elliot would be able to see these rooms, of course, but if there was a sound interface to the security panel it didn't seem like it was currently present. Barring quick thinking on their parts, this half of the decision was resting solely on Kouhei and Gizu's shoulders.